Anyone with the time or information to help me out with some basic questions about NG life? I have about 15 months left on my current active contract and am looking into the possibility of getting out and moving back to the Savannah, GA area after 15 yrs active time. If anyone is affiliated with the HHC or A CO units of 3/20 I would love to hear about your experiences. I don't know much about the daily life of a NG team guy, retirement, deployment cycles, or training requirements. Just trying to piece some courses of action together before I present them to my wife. Feel free to post on here or send me a PM directly.

Thanks for the help.

Marvin Blank

07-16-2016, 09:38

I'd be interested in the same information, if anyone decides to PM him.

Thanks in advance.

k-rub

07-16-2016, 16:31

I can't speak specifics for 20th as I've been in 19th but I can give you some general NG SF info.

As far as training requirements, you're have to maintain the same standards. Still have to have current DLPT, SSD, SLC, Jump Status, etc. 19th has a huge emphasis on SLC followed by language right now. Same kind of thing, they will pull you from a deployment to attend SLC.

The minimum for a NG soldier is the weekend a month and two week AT. In my experience, the minimum on an NG SF team is quite a bit more. Many guys Guard Bum and make a decent career of it. Some teams do quarterly drills. We try to jump every drill. Depends on the air and weather as always. Because most guys have full time jobs there are always school slots opening up. We get flash school slots with a report date of a few days away quite often.

Many guys live outside of their unit's state. I only know that B/1/19 in Utah pays for some travel. Don't know if anyone else does. Living close by your unit is much better IMO. You can come on orders quickly and be more available to training. I live 12 hours away from my unit and the travel adds to being gone more often.

Deployments come and go. Depends on the needs of the Army. But we've been all over. There are almost always opportunities and other Companies in other states send out requests for other SF guys to fill slots. Happens all the time.

I will say you end up doing quite a bit of work at your home on your own dime. Sometimes the TMSGT can work with S1 to get you paid for doing stuff (CONOPS, language etc) at your home.

Overall it depends on your goals. I see a decent amount of AD guys transfer to NG, regret it, and go back to AD. It is not easy having a full time job and committing to your team. Thats why so many guys Guard Bum. I've been to a lot of places and learned a bunch. It came at the expense of my college degree and my job.

Let me know if you have any specific ?s

5thgrp"C"

07-16-2016, 18:56

What is guard bum?

exsquid

07-16-2016, 20:53

"Guard Bumming" is when you are such a waste of life that you cannot hold down a normal job and spend all your time sucking up school slots and trying to go TDY to Thailand or Colombia. :D

x/S

5thgrp"C"

07-16-2016, 21:12

Oh that's awesome! Ya, so I won't be guard bumming anytime soon. It's pretty awesome there is a term for it though.

k-rub

07-17-2016, 14:50

"Guard Bumming" is when you are such a waste of life that you cannot hold down a normal job and spend all your time sucking up school slots and trying to go TDY to Thailand or Colombia. :D